Greg's trip to Khazakstan

Last Sunday Greg left to visit one of his warehouses in Aksai, Kazakhstan.  I was a wreck for months leading up to the trip.  As a "westerner,"  my initial thoughts about any "-stan" ending country included kidnappings, road bombs, and ransoms.  Luckily, they all proved to be wrong.  While Kazakhstan is an underdeveloped country, Greg felt safe during his trip.

Kazakhstan is a sizeable country that used to be a part of the Soviet Union.  It is in both Europe and Asia, and like many of the other "-stan"s, is mostly desert.  Right now it is very wet and cold over there making most of their roads very muddy.

 

Greg landed in Atyrau (At-a-rah) and then had to take an 8 hour taxi ride through the desert to the city that Expro's office is in.  Aksai is an oil town, therefore it is more developed and populated than many of the other cities.  The pollution in Kazakhstan is so bad! Greg ended up getting sick while he was there because of it.

 

 

On the way to Aksai, they stopped for lunch at a "café" in the middle of no where.  Being an underdeveloped country, food regulations in Kazakhstan are either non existent or ignored.  If you're not eating chicken, who knows what you are eating!  Many restaurants will serve horse and tell you it's beef.  Greg was traveling with his boss, who cautioned him about the place they stopped.  For lunch they both had a candy bar and a coffee.  The restroom at the café was an outhouse-no indoor plumbing.

 

 

Once he got to the hotel in Aksai, he was much more comfortable.  The hotel had several security checks to get through the gates and more livable, though dated conditions.

 

The view from his hotel window of the street and fence.

The outdoor bar and patio.

 

His room keys lol!

Not one, but TWO tube TV's! Ahhh the good life!  Don't you love the décor??!

 

There was no hot water the last couple nights of his trip, so by the time he got home he was ready for a hot shower.  Luckily, because of the harsh weather conditions there and the loooooong winter, he won't have to go back anytime soon.  We are very happy that the trip is over with and that he is home safely.  Aberdeen never looked so good!! :)

 

 

Berry picking Tuesday!

I had my mind set on cleaning the house today, but then I woke up a saw it was yet another gorgeous fall day in Aberdeen.  Without hesitation, cleaning the house was the last thing on my to-do list.

Murphy and I walked 2 miles to the beach and met up with some friends. Pookie had to say home because 6 miles is quite far for her little legs to go.

 

The sand glass we found.  We walked about 1/2 a mile down the beach before we turned around and came back.

 

 

On the way home, we walked through the woods so we could do some berry picking.  I think it is a little late in the season because a lot of the berries were dried out, but we found a good amount of edible ones.

Murphy helping out...he ate all the ones he found, though!

Just enough to make Puffin some homemade jam for the weekend!

 

I also picked a couple of these hoping to find them online.  They are all over the place and I don't know what they are, or if they are edible. Anyone have any clues?

 

 

 

Crathes Castle

Saturday was another gorgeous day in Scotland so Greg and I decided to go exploring.   We are members of the National Trust for Scotland, so with that membership there are many castles and gardens that we get to tour for free.  We were told when we moved here that there are so many things to see in Scotland that if we went somewhere new every weekend, after 3 years we still wouldn't have seen them all!  There are so many within 1-2 hours of our house, and many of them allow dogs on the grounds (obviously, not in the castles though).

Yesterday we visited Crathes Castle, which is just about 30 minutes from the house.  They don't allow you to take pictures inside the castles and have people standing around to make sure you're not being sneaky.  hehehe trust me, I try every time!!  Here are some great pictures of the castle from the outside.

 

 The leaves on the vines are even starting to turn red!  I picked up every red leaf I could find as we were walking through the parking lot.  Greg was so embarrassed lol.  He kept telling me "Baby, that's enough.  Save some for the other housewives that saw the same project on Pintrest" lol!

 

 

Since it was such a pretty day, they actually allowed us to take pictures from the top floor of the castle.  This is the view from the top floor.

 

My Puffin next to the little bitty window.

The castle gardens from the top of the castle.

 

Here are some pictures of the castle grounds.

 

I thought this building was an outhouse.  Greg said probably an old well.  There was no sign, so I'm not sure what it actually was.

A huge Cypress that was brought over from the States and planted in the 1800s.

 

Here are pictures from one of the 4 trails that wrap around the castle.  This is the part that the puppies got to come with us on.  And this is the reason they love Scotland!  Most of our walks are very similar to this.  We walked the trail first and then they took a nap in the car while we went inside the castle.

Pookie posing on a rock covered in moss.

Murphy posing on the moss covered rock.  Both of them were very focused on all the new smells and had no interest in a photo op.

This was an old bench that the family used to sit on while enjoying the view.

Murphy photo bombed my picture.

Right in front of this look out point was a sign that said there were bears and mountain lions in the area.  I took the picture a we got outta there!